The End of the Beginning, a Demon Tale
by Kenoten
Summary: An immortal warrior must recruit twelve demons to fight a force that would undo creation itself. Look for characters from Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto, Saiyuki, Inuyasha, Darkstalkers and more! Rated T for violence and mild language.


The clank of his armor can be heard with each step. The heavy wooden door opens inward and his large frame steps into the home. He takes off the large black claymore that was strapped to his back and sets it next to the door as he hears "DADDY!". Two children dash into the room. The little boy hugs tightly to the man's right leg looking up at him and the little girl hugs his left leg, pressing the side of her hair to his thigh fiercely. He reaches down and tussles their hair with a smile. A redheaded woman stands in the door to the kitchen looking at him lovingly.

"Welcome home, William", the redheaded woman says. William frees himself from the children and walks over to her to pick her up in an embrace. He has missed her light frame in his arms.

"Rebecca, my love, is that a new dress?" The redheaded woman smiles and steps back for him to see her blue dress. She twirls around, showing it off to her husband.

"Do you like it?" Rebecca asks.

William grabs her and pulls Rebecca close. Whispering into her ear he says, "I love it. I'd love it even more on the floor." As he then starts kissing her neck.

She pushes him back and smacks his armored chest. "Not in front of the children," she says with fake indignation. "Dinner will be ready soon." She turns around and heads into the kitchen.

William smiles and turns to the children. "Elizabeth, go get me a shirt. Vincent, help me get this damned thing off." The children just stand there, staring at the cloaked figure in the doorway. Standing barely 5 feet tall, nothing can be seen of the person except the bottom of their face, the rest shadowed by the hood of the black cloak. William shouts, "Vincent! Elizabeth! NOW!" The children snap out of their daze. Elizabeth runs off to William's room to fetch a shirt and Vincent stands dutifully by William's stool by the fireplace.

William sits on the stool, bringing his shoulders down to the boy's height. While the boy deftly unstraps his father's armor, William tells the cloaked figure, "Come in. Sit down. And get the door behind ya. Rebecca will call for us when dinner is ready. And take off that damned cloak already. You look like Death hisself with that getup on."

The cloaked figure pulls the hood back to reveal a boy with spikey black hair and a white headband around his forehead. The boy takes off his cloak and hangs it on a hook by the door. A small voice comes from the door to the hallway. "Daddy, who is this boy?" The little girl Elizabeth stands patiently in the doorway with a white tunic folded in her arms.

William chuckles. "This isn't a boy." Elizabeth looks confused. "This is a demon and the newest ally of Lord Odin. He is actually a few hundred years old, which is a lot for a mortal." Elizabeth's eyes go wide at word "demon". Vincent finishes taking off the breast plate, lifting it over William's head while standing on the tips of his toes. Elizabeth gives her father the tunic and walks over to the demon. Her pink dress is a stark contrast to his black sleeveless shirt and black pants.

"Hi, I'm Elizabeth. I'm 82 years old. What's that bandage on your arm Mr. Demon? Did you get hurt? My mommy is the bestest healer ever. She even healed Lord Thor once. I helped. I try to be a good helper. Daddy always tells me I'm a good helper. Someday I wanna be—"The little girl is cut off by her brother's hand on her mouth. The demon looks surprisingly at the little girl. _82? She looks like a 6 year old little human girl. Her brother looked to be maybe 9._

"Hush, Liz." The brother scolds. Then to the demon, "I'm Vincent. I am 148 next month. Sorry bout Elizabeth, sir. She has quite the mouth. Could run longer than Sleipnir* hisself, Dad always says." Vincent leads the Elizabeth by the hand out of the room into the hallway, out of sight.

*Authors Note: Sleipnir is the eight legged horse of Odin*

The demon utters his first words since leaving his homeworld. "I thought you brought me here to fight a war, not to play with your family."

William raises a brow at the comment. "There be plenty of time for fighting, Hiei. A man must have a reason to fight. It doesn't hurt to take the time to remember that reason." William strokes his beard as he looks into the fire. "You'd do well to remember that. While you may be a powerful demon on your plane, you now face the Unborn, a foe like nothing you have faced before. You will need a reason to fight, lest you succumb to their whispers of hopelessness."

Hiei casts his eyes down. _Yukina. That is my reason to fight. I will protect her from these Unborn, whatever they are._ Hiei takes off the sheathed katana from his back and rests it on his lap as he sits down on the couch. No sooner than he sits down than Rebecca calls to everyone, telling them it is time for dinner. The children rush into the room from the hall and head straight to the kitchen. William follows suit and beckons for Hiei to follow. On the other side of the kitchen is a long black table with a fire crackling in another fireplace on the far side of the room. The family sits at the closest end of the table with William at its head. Rebecca leans down and kisses William on his cheek before sitting at his right. Elizabeth bounces around the room until her father gives her the look that all children know and promptly sits next to Rebecca. William motions for Hiei to sit at his left next to his son.

The family eats and tells William what they have been doing while he was gone. Vincent has been studying sword forms. Elizabeth has been learning the healing arts from Rebecca. Rebecca has been tending the occasional wounded warrior at the Lords' request. After the meal is over, Elizabeth says, "Daddy, tell us about your adventures." The blond girl looks at her father with anticipation.

"Ok, one story. Then it's off to bed for the both of you." William says with a smile. "Would you like to hear the story of how I met Hiei?" The children nod excitedly.

Rebecca stands up from the table. "Not before the table is cleared and the dishes are done," Rebecca tells everyone. She leaves the kitchen to the front room.

William looks at his children, "Uhhh yeah. Get that done first. Then story." William stands up and starts to head out the back door of the kitchen, away from his wife.

That is, until he hears his wife's voice call into the kitchen. "Don't even think about it William. Hiei, come on out of the kitchen. I won't be having our guest doing dishes." William cringes and closes the back door. With a boyish grin he looks back at the door to the front room and then to Hiei. With a shrug, he walks back over to the table to help the children clean up. The demon heads into the front room, not wanting any part of what ill fate was in store for those who disobeyed the lady of the house.

After a short while, William and his children enter the front room. William sits in the big armchair close to the fire. Elizabeth sits at Rebecca's feet in front of the couch with a brush in her hands. The little girl hands the brush to her mother as Vincent plops down on the couch next to them. Rebecca strokes the little girls blond hair with the brush as both children silently wait for their father to begin his tale. Clearing his throat, William begins.

"I entered the great hall of Valhalla after receiving a summons from Lord Odin himself. As I walked into the hall, I saw dozens of captains and generals from the armies of Asgard* standing before Lord Odin's throne.

*Authors Note: Asgard is the realm that the Norse gods live in*

My good friend Gordon's voice boomed from a figure standing in front of the throne. 'There he is Lord Odin, William of the Eldrari. And no finer man for the task at hand.'

I hurried across the hall to the foot of the throne. I could feel Lord Odin's heavy gaze on my head as I knelt down on one knee with my sword arm across my chest in respect. Then he spoke in a voice as thunderous as the heaviest storm, 'William, I am told that among all of my Eldrari, you are the most talented at traversing the boundaries between Asgard and the many branches of Midgard*. Is this true?'

*Authors Note: Midgard is where the humans in Norse legend would live. We call it earth. The branches are a reference to the multi-verse. Each 'branch' is a different universe.*

'I am skilled traversing the various worlds of Midgard, Lord Odin,' I humbly replied.

'So modest. Captain Gordon swears that you are the best and the best is what I need. We need someone to gather allies to fight back against the Unborn threat. You are to go and gather 12 demons to attack the source of the Unborn.' Then Lord Odin stroked his beard as his gaze shifted to Gordon. 'This is a plan proposed to me by Gordon. He is the leader of the Eldrari for his vast knowledge of the weaknesses of the Unborn. And he has assured me that this will work.' The thunderous voice of the Lord of the Immortals washed over me, 'Go now. Return to me when you have assembled this demonic force.'

'Yes, my Lord', I said solemnly. I stood up, turned around, and headed out of Valhalla, not showing on my face how excited I was. Lord Odin recognized me as the best of the Eldrari! This made me swell with pride—'"

"Daddy?" Elizabeth's voice interrupts her father. "What's Elderarti?"

"The Eldrari," William corrects, "is a special order under the direct command of Lord Odin himself. We are masters of transporting through space and time, even to other dimensions like where I got Hiei from. You see that firebird emblem on my breastplate?" The children look to the golden phoenix emblazoned on the chest of William's armor. "That is our symbol. Someday one of our breastplates will fall to one of the branches of Midgard called Earth where gargoyles walk free in the night. A hero of that world known as Goliath will right many wrongs with its power. Last I heard, they called it the Phoenix Gate. In fact one of Goliath's greatest triumphs will be—"

Rebecca interjects with "Just how many stories do you plan on telling tonight?"

Abashed, William clears his throat. "Well, yes, I um…where was I? Oh right. I headed out of Valhalla. I searched the ether for the closest great source of demonic power. I found a world that overshadowed all others with its amount of demonic energy. Weaving my arms around in the intricate forms of time and space, I created a rip in the air. Stepping through it I arrived in a city in Japan. With a simple spell, I walked around the humans without them being able to see me. They also couldn't see all the lesser demons in their presence. Imps, tiny devils, demon dogs, and various other tiny demonic beings infested the place. Where was that great demon energy I felt from this world? While there were many demons, all of them put together were barely a fraction of the power I felt. I walked further down the busy street, avoiding the humans on the sidewalk, hoping to sense the source of the great demonic energy.

Out of a store, 2 boys in their school uniforms came out and looked right at me. The shorter one had slicked black hair and the other was tall with orange hair in the pompadour style, which was popular among gangsters in that era.

'Look at the armored freak,' the black haired one said to his friend. I startled, surprised that they could actually see me.

'Look pal, you here to start some trouble?' The orange haired one tried to be intimidating. 'Hey, Urameshi, he don't feel like a demon. What do you think he is?'

'Don't look at me Kuwabara, I don't know. But if he is itchin' for a fight, we'll be happy to help him out,' the one called Urameshi said as he cracked his knuckles. It looked like these boys were powerful fighters in this world. In fact, I could sense destiny itself wrapping around the black haired boy.

I extended my hand to them in greeting and introduced myself. 'I am William of the Eldrari. I am here looking for demons. Know where I can find any?'

Urameshi did not shake my hand. A serious look came over his face. I took back my hand. Kuwabara had the same life or death look on his face. They looked around and headed down the alley next to the store. I was quite surprised at this reaction, but I just stood there, not knowing what to do. Urameshi poked his head out of the alley and said, 'Hey! You comin'?'

I hurried after the boys. I followed them until I found myself standing with them in an empty lot with some construction supplies stacked up in the corner.

'Ok, who the hell are you really?' Urameshi asked.

I knew I had to choose my words carefully. 'I came here because I sensed great demonic power coming from here. When I arrived all I can find are imps and tiny demon beasts. Where is the great demon power I sensed?'

'Most of the demons are in the demon world,' Kuwabara answered. 'How do you know about demons and don't know that?' Damn, I thought to myself. The less the mortals know the better. You never know what your interference can do to a world, especially when dealing with someone who destiny has chosen. I needed to figure out something to say quick. Fortunately, I didn't have to.

A girl walking by the lot, called to the boys. 'Yusuke! Kuwabara! What are you doing? You should be heading back to school. Lunch is almost over!' The boys jumped at her commanding voice. I turned away and started to cast a spell of teleportation to go search for this 'demon world' the boys talked about. It was not unheard of for a world to be divided into sub-dimensions, especially where demons and the dead were concerned. I was one last hand wave from being miles away when I heard the girl scream. I stopped casting and turned to see the girl being held hostage by nothing other than an Unborn fiend.

The Unborn looked at me with its white eyes. The black skin of his human like face furled into a snarl. Though fiends are the lowest class of Unborn, just one of them can destroy a world not prepared for them. _How did they get here?_ I wondered. I had to do something. These boys couldn't handle something like this. Or so I thought. Urameshi moved like a blur, delivering his knee to the Unborn's face. The black skinned fiend fell back. Even as its body hit the ground, Yusuke Urameshi grabbed it by its white hair and delivered a punch that would kill most mortals to the Unborn's face. Kuwabara caught the girl and carried her away from the boy and fiend on the ground. Interlocking his fists, the black haired boy hammered down a blow onto the Unborn's chest. The fiend coughed black blood as his torso was crushed. As does happen when all Unborn die, the fiend shimmered and vanished from existence. Urameshi stood up and stared an icy cold stare at me.

'What the hell was that? And why was it after Keiko?' He asked in a deathly calm voice. I opened my mouth to answer but at least a dozen more Unborn appeared in the lot, surrounding us. This boy may be good, but there was no way he could handle this. I drew my mighty demon sword, Slàreinn, from its sheath on my back and stood ready to defend the mortals.

'SPIRIT SWORD!' I heard from behind me. I turned around just to see Kuwabara form a sword out of his own spirit energy. Before I could warn him, he plunged the light sword into the chest of an Unborn. At that same instant, Urameshi pointed his finger like a gun right at another Unborn. He yelled, 'SPIRIT GUN!' and sent a blue ball of his energy at the target. Both the stabbed fiend and the shot fiend paused. The boys smirked. Their grins were not long lived.

The first Unborn grabbed Kuwabara's face, palming the boys head. The Unborn stabbed his hand into chest of his attacker. The Unborn was not hurt at all by the sword. In fact, it was fed by it. And it wanted more. The Unborn 'victim' of Urameshi's spirit gun lunged at him, also wanting to consume more of Urameshi's life force. In the span of one heartbeat, I moved between Urameshi and his attacker. The fiend's momentum forced him onto my blade. Slàreinn cut into its flesh as if it was made of paper. He shimmered and vanished. Another heartbeat. I dashed at the monster with its hand in Kuwabara and with a wide slash, took its head off, barely missing the neck of the boy. Another heartbeat. I struck at the nearest Unborn with a mighty swing, cleaving it right down the middle.

Urameshi kept firing his spirit gun, pouring in more and more of his energy with each shot. With every shot, he was making it more and more difficult for me to keep up with Unborn. In my heart I said a prayer to Lord Odin that the idiot boy would run out of ammo soon. Out of options, I unleashed one of my most powerful spells. I planted Slàreinn in the dirt, and put out my hands to the sides. For me and the Unborn, the world around us shimmered and time itself stopped. Now the boy couldn't defend himself, but perhaps now he wasn't feeding them, I could turn the tide.

Two more boys leapt into the fray from what seemed like thin air. A red haired boy with a whip made of thorns took out the Unborn closest to the time frozen girl and Kuwabara, who was lying on the ground, the gushing of his blood from his chest also frozen with time. A black blur sliced through the rest, and in an instant the rest of the Unborn shimmered and vanished. A loud metal clang rang out into the air.

I barely blocked a katana from slicing my head off. Our blades were locked and I looked into the eyes of a black haired boy with a white headband. I saw the demon energy in his eyes. That is why I didn't freeze them, they were demons. Humans are very easy to stop in time because they live for such a short time. Demons perception of time is much longer, so it takes a great deal more effort to stop their time. Effort that I did not anticipate I'd need. I was wrong again.

With a one word binding spell, I paralyzed the black haired demon. 'I am a friend.' I blurted out, just as the other demons whip cracked an inch from my ear. I am glad he had the foresight to hear me out because while holding that binding spell, I could not move myself and was defenseless.

In a voice as smooth as silk, the red headed one said, 'Identify yourself.'

'I am William, of the Eldrari. I come seeking allies when the Unborn attacked your friends. I mean no harm.' My heart was racing. Perhaps I could release the black haired one and take him out before that whip hit me. Granted, I would be defeating the purpose of my visit by killing demons, but better them dead than me.

'Hiei, let's hear him out,' the redheaded demon said in that sweet voice. 'Release him. We will not attack you.' To the other demon he said. 'Hiei, if you make a liar out of me, I promise you that I will remove your head.' The fact that this boy could threaten murder in such a sweet tone was astounding! Hesitantly, I released the spell, and both of us were free to move again. I felt through the ether of that world and found that the Unborn had retreated. They had gathered in a building south of where we were. To think that the Unborn were now attacking the branches of Midgard was a dire thought indeed.

Once again, I needed to choose my words carefully. 'There is a force that threatens your world. The fiends you fought here are beings that exist outside of time, the Unborn. They are here to consume the life force of all the humans and living things in this universe. The ones you defeated are the lowest form of the Unborn. Legions of much stronger Unborn are attacking my world as we speak.' I paused to let the weight of my words sink in. 'We need allies in my world to defeat this threat once and for all.'

'You are a being that can stop time, what can we do that you cannot?' The redheaded demon asked.

'Though I am an immortal, my life essence is also food for the Unborn. We immortals just have much more than the humans. You demons, however, have a life fore that is impure. This impurity gives you your greatest asset against the Unborn. Your life is a poison to the Unborn. The slightest taste of your life will kill the Unborn. This is why we need your help. My lord has sent me to recruit demon allies. There is one small caveat. I can only take one demon from each world, or that world will suffer an imbalance that could alter its destiny forever. So I have my work cut out for me.' The demons both looked at me in disbelief. 'Skeptics? Great. My freeze time spell will only hold out for a little while longer. Before Urameshi here is unfrozen and decides to give them another helping of his vast amounts of life energy, we need to rid this world of the Unborn. Once we get rid of them, I can put a temporal barrier on this world which will protect it for a limited time. First thing's first, we have to exterminate the rats nest.' Rats nest. Ironic choice of words now that I think about it. In any case, the demons agreed to help. The red haired one introduced himself as Kurama. 'Try and keep up', I said with a smile.

I darted off in the direction of the Unborn. In spite of the fact that I was not holding back, both demons were able to keep up. Hiei seemed like he was not even trying to keep up with my speed. A truly impressive warrior. We arrived at a warehouse. I could sense many weak Unborn inside. And in that cloud of anti-life, there was something…bigger. At this point I had to decide if we would sneak in or go inside guns blazing, so to speak. Hiei made my decision for me, by destroying the loading dock's door with a flurry of slices from his katana.

Inside the warehouse were stacks of boxes and crates and on those boxes, the enemy. Dozens of Unborn could be seen just from the doorway we stood in. Every human-like face snarling at us. Without a word, we leapt into action. Kurama used his thorny whip to obliterate any of the Unborn foolish enough to get close to him. Hiei moved so fast that I couldn't keep track of all of the foes he ended. Not to be outdone by a couple of mortals, I drew my sword, Slàreinn's weight like a best friend in my hands and I ran into battle screaming like a mad man. Each swing cleaved another unlife in two.

With a roar, I swung my blade and killed three of the Unborn at once. I turned around to see that Hiei had killed five that were going to rip my back to shreds. I was not keeping up very well. We fought our way to the middle of the building to where we saw a black mass.

It was a large blob, but it was writhing and moving. I looked closely and saw that it wasn't a blob, but several man sized rats, huddled together in a giant mound of Unborn beasts. Before any of us could react, the giant rats started to scatter in all directions. Again, I stuck Slàreinn into the ground at my feet and cast a mighty spell. I pounded my fists together and the spell was finished. This time, instead of freezing time, I created a wall in the space around the warehouse that no Unborn can pass. I was not able to catch them all.

With my fists pressed together, I yelled, 'Kurama, I missed some! If I move, the rest will get out. Do not let them get away! If even one Unborn gets away, this world is doomed.'

Kurama only nodded and said 'I understand.' The redheaded demon ran out of the barrier with his whip trailing behind him.

I could only stand there with my fists together, watching anxiously as Hiei was left alone to fight the rest. The rats, stood up like a man, their black furred bodies even more intimidating on two legs. They turned their white eyes at us. It was time for us to die. Hiei bounced and zipped to my side understanding that if I moved something worse than any hell would break loose. The rats drew white swords out of their twisted bodies and charged.

Hiei parried a blow and cut the first rat in half. Jumping over the shimmering corpse, he landed in the midst of several. All I could see was the glint of his katana as it pierced the bodies of the monsters. They too shimmered and soon vanished. Realizing that Hiei was a force to be reckoned with, the rats attacked him with full force. It was too much. Hiei went from dispatching enemies left and right to barely being able to block their blades. He fought around me, protecting me even unto taking a sword tip in the shoulder. I was powerless to help, standing there fists together. Hiei then got serious.

The rats stepped back, as a demonic aura started to flow out from Hiei. With his free hand, he removed the bandana from his forehead, revealing a third eye. The eye opened and the demonic aura flared. I could feel Hiei pouring that demonic power into his sword. The steel blade became black as midnight.

'Sword of the Darkness Flame!' Hiei's voice silenced the squeaking of the rats. With both hands, he grasped the hilt firmly and the eye in his forehead shone bright. Then he attacked. Hiei dealt hundreds of blows in an instant. With each attack, black flames struck out consuming everything in its path, destroying the Unborn and even the boxes and crates leaving nothing but scorched ground behind. In but a moment, the building was completely empty. Ash covered the floor and walls.

Hiei breathed heavily. The sword returned to its cold steel instead of burning black. His third eye closed sleepily. I felt the ether carefully, searching for any last signs of Unborn. The room was empty. I could also sense Kurama destroy the last of the rats who escaped my barrier. I smiled. They did it! I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and started to let down my barrier. Once again, I was wrong.

I noticed the source of all the Unborn in that world. A tiny hole chewed out in the fabric of space time. I noticed too late. Ripping into the world where we stood, a monster from a demented nightmare. Its massive swords rang out as Hiei narrowly blocked me from losing my head to the monster. The monster took a few steps back, and I was able to get a look at its whole form. It was a massive white furred rat that stood twice as tall as I. It had an ornate sword as big as mine in each hand. On top of its huge shoulders were 7 rat heads, each with a crown. The rat king did not give us time to catch our breaths.

The rat king lunged into another attack. Hiei deftly block the massive blades but he had a major handicap. Me. The rat king knew this and directed his attacks so that if Hiei was to dodge a blow, instead of block it, I would be ended. I hoped with all of my heart that Hiei would not sacrifice me to gain the upper hand against the rat king. Hiei being a warrior of great honor would not relent in any way in his defense of me. His honorable fighting spirit was rewarded.

A thorny vine wrapped around the feet of the rat king and pulled his feet out from under him. The rat king fell onto his face. Faces? Anyway, the rat king fell down, dropping its swords trying to catch itself from the fall. Kurama stood behind him pulling his whip to keep the rat king down. Hiei saw the opportunity to deliver the final blow. Hiei thrust his sword, intent on piercing the beast through its crown. The rat king caught the sword in two of its mouths and the massive teeth shattered the sword. Hiei was now defenseless. Or so I thought. I was wrong, yet again.

Hiei's third eye had opened again and shone brightly. 'I have the power to pull you into oblivion, I assume just my right arm will do,' he said in a confident voice. The air crackled with demonic energy again. The rat king slashed the vine whip and lunged again at Hiei. Lunged into oblivion.

'DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS FLAME,' Hiei's voice called out. And out of his right hand a black flame formed into a dragon and met the rat king head on. The monster was consumed in an instant. The dragon crashed into the far wall and dissipated into tiny black flames in the wake of its power. With the rat king gone, the tear in time and space healed quickly, and the Unborn had no way to enter that world again. The boundary between worlds is just like your skin, and will scar and get thicker each time it heals from a tear. I breathed easy knowing that it would be quite a while before we had to worry about this place.

Hiei stood limply and started to fall, his energy spent. Kurama gently caught him and eased him to the ground. I finally let the barrier wane and vanish. When that spell had ended, I could feel my exhaustion catching up to me as well.

'Truly, you are noble warriors,' I said. 'Your world should sing of this day for generations to come. Alas, they will never know what has happened here.' Time was still stopped but there was a thing or two that I needed to do before I let the humans go back to their daily grind. The pausing of time was weighing heavily, so I needed to finish my business quickly. With a word, I restored the warehouse to the time before we arrived. The boxes and crates were back as if they were never gone. Hiei's sword was restored and back in its sheath on his back. Inanimate things have always been particularly easy for me to deal with. No variables in their flow of time. People are much harder to deal with and it was a person who was bleeding out from a wound in his chest a few miles to the north.

I hefted Hiei onto my shoulder, his frame surprisingly light. 'I can walk. Put me down you oaf.' He muttered in protest and then passed out. I just smiled. Kurama and I ran as fast as we could to the empty lot. Keiko was still frozen with a look of horror on her face. Urameshi still stood with his finger pointed at an enemy that was no longer there. And Kuwabara lay on the ground, blood gushing from his chest wound. Now here was the tricky part.

I do not pretend to be a healer. In fact, I couldn't heal a paper cut. However, there is more than one way to skin a cat. In the minds of the humans, these boys saw me a mere fifteen minutes before in front of that store. All we had to do was go back to that time. Sounds simple enough, right? I set Hiei on the ground and prepared for perhaps the biggest undertaking I have done in nearly a millennia.

I breathed deeply and reached into the ether grab at this world's fabric of time. Grasping tightly, I began a spell that I have only used three times before. I chanted in the language of the First, commanding the sun to step back in its orbit, the skies to turn back in their eternal paths, and the earth to turn back in her destined journey. One minute…two minutes…three minutes…each minute felt like a century. Seven minutes…eight minutes…nine minutes… my strength had started to fail me. My grip on the fabric of time was slipping. Twelve minutes…thirteen minutes… I thought that I was going to lose it for sure. Fourteen minutes… Sweat beaded on my forehead. Fifteen minutes. I released the spell and my knees buckled from underneath me. Kuwabara and Urameshi were back into the store, having no memory of our encounter, just a slight feeling of déjà vu. The girl Keiko had just started her search for the truant boys; ready to give them a piece of her mind should she run into them.

Hiei had sat up, holding his arm in pain. 'I suppose your rewinding of time doesn't work on demons either?' Kurama said observantly. I could only muster a shake of my head.

'There are more of those elsewhere, aren't there,' Hiei said as he looked to the sky.

'Yes', I forced out. 'And they threaten everyone you hold dear.' My strength was returning slowly and I could stand again.

'Yukina,' Hiei breathed and stood up as well. 'I will fight in your war,' he said resolute. I could see in his face that there was no way I could change his mind. I smiled, for there is no one I would have rather had at my side.

'Our war,' I said as I extended my hand in friendship. Hiei grasped my hand firmly. I had made my first ally in Lord Odin's name.

I placed my hand on the firebird of my breastplate and uttered a single word of power. A fiery gate opened and with a silent nod to Kurama, Hiei and I stepped out of Midgard back to Asgard. We had done battle. We had won. I had helped a man defend his home so that he could help me defend mine."

William finishes his story and looks at the children. The children look at him with wonder and awe in their eyes. Hiei sits in the corner, giving no hint of what he thought of the story. Rebecca stands up, straightens her dress and tells the children it is time for bed. With minor protest both children head down the hall, Rebecca following after like a mother hen gathering her chicks to the coop.

William looks at the demon. "What do ya think? Do I tell a good story or what?" Hiei doesn't answer. William just smiles wistfully. "Come," he says. "I will show you to the guest house. You need to rest well for tomorrows gonna be a big day."

Hiei looks at William with an eyebrow raised. "What is so special about tomorrow?"

William just laughs. Hiei doesn't like his response. William sees the demon's indignation and says with a smile, "Tomorrow, we are going to make another friend."

Who the hell do you think I am?

I am the pen that will pierce the heavens.


End file.
